Why are my diapers leaking? Am I doing something wrong?

Why are my diapers leaking? Am I doing something wrong? These are questions we ask ourselves while going through these problems with our little ones diapers. I started cloth diapering my son 4 ½ months ago; I knew nothing about cloth diapers. I did my research about what diapers I wanted to try or buy, but never on the “ HOW TO’s” so I was totally clueless on what to do.


The day came and I had a leaky Diaper. I found myself wondering “ okay now what, it keeps on happening” what’s going on? Well I did my research and all it was; was that I had the snap rise set on the medium size instead of a smaller setting. So therefore the diaper was fitting my son too big causing the diaper to leak around the legs.


Since then I have now learned a couple tricks as far as having leaky diapers, hope these help because they defiantly helped me.


Prepping your cloth diapers: I always try to prep my diapers even though sometimes I have to admit Ashton wears them without being prepped. They are just so soft and beautiful and sometimes I don’t want to wait to prep them so sometimes Ashton wears them new without being prepped, but this is not recommended. The reason why you want to prep your diapers before you use them is because there can still be residue left on fabric from production and fabric is not that absorbent because its new and not prepped so its not going to reach its full capacity of absorbency until after a few washes.


Diaper Rash Creams: If you use a diaper rash cream always make sure they are “ Cloth Diaper Friendly” I recommend you use a liner. I am OCD about my Diapers they have to all be super “WHITE” and no stains and stinks. I always use a liner even with cloth diaper safe formulas. Just to play it safe. Some of these creams can cause buildup causing the diaper not to be absorbent and leak. You don’t want this!


Fitting: Always make sure your snaps or aplix are on correctly; don’t make the same mistake that I did. Play around with your diaper and figure out the BEST fit for your baby. Also make sure the inserts are not sticking up from the back or the front. Make sure everything is nice and snug to prevent leaks.


Diaper on too long / Heavy Wetter: Another reason can be that your little one has been in his diaper for too long or he/she is a heavy wetter and needs to be changed more frequently. If so, then just change his/her diaper more frequently or add more absorbency by trying different inserts such as hemp/bamboo.


If you would need to strip your diapers. I would suggest you wash your diapers in hot washes. I did about 6-8 washes and rinses with hot water to get all the nasty/ buildup gone. After I do that then I add my detergent and wash and then do 2 more rinses and line dry them. I have not tried using Dawn soap. This is what I find works for me without ruining my cloth diapers. I know there are different ways of stripping diapers but this is what I do, and it works so i'm good with this method. I have also boiled my inserts and they too come out awesome.


Make sure you follow the Cloth Diaper rules and regulations as far as stripping that diaper, each diaper is so different. What you can do to one cloth diaper, you might not be able to do on the other.


I hope my post has helped you with “Leaky Diapers” if that’s what you’re going through right now. Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment if you have any questions or find me on my blog at using the link below.


God Bless You


Have a very fluffy day!!!


Contributed by: Pollyanna
Pollyanna is happily married to a US Navy Sailor, a stay at home mom to Adryana who is 5 yrs old, and Ashton who is 4 mths old. She started cloth diapering Ashton this year as of January 1, 2012 and she is so happy she did. She has only been cloth diapering for coming on 3 months now so if you’re new to cloth diapering too feel free to leave a coment here and ask her a questions or visit her blog at Sew Fatty.

Is it hard to be a first time cloth diaperer?

First time Cloth Diapering for parents can be a tough job, especially not knowing what to really expect. For starters, there are a variety of Diaper brands to choose from, but which is “THE ONE”? After doing a lot of researching I found myself writing down all the cloth diapers brands I would be interested in. After taking another look at my listI was still left with a lot of brands to choose from. So I decided I wouldn’tsettle on one I would try all of them. I have tried several diapers, thanks to websites like diaperswapper.com, Facebook Groups that provide Buy/ Sell/ Trade options for parents to do just that. You try out your cloth diapers and if you don’t like them well you either didn’t spend that much on them and you can then turn around and trade or sell the diaper. So it’s a win-win situation!

I believe that cloth diapering can be affordable with prefolds/ flats and covers, and slowly adding on to yourstash, I also know that not every one is fortunate to have a washer/dryer or go to the laundry mat every other day so unfornutaly that’s why some parents choose disposables which is one of the bad things of cloth diapering you need these essentials to make cloth diapering work.

I personally don't think there's anything hard about cloth diapering; I think it's what you make of it and how you go about it. Dealing with poop diapers is really easy you really don’t touch it though there are times that those things can happen, but hey there are always gloves when spraying/ dunking your diapers and that should do it.

Cloth diapering can get a little dicey when the stinks, ammonia and build up arise it can be a bit frustrating because you find yourself not knowing what do to, this might not be the case for other parents but for myself it was. I was experiencing that strong ammonia smell and I was just second guessing myself on everything so there will come a time in your cloth diapering years where you will reach a challenging situation and you’ll think “ok now what”? Don’t worry there is a solution to everything just take a deep breath in and research, there is a lot of information out there on cloth diapers!


I hope that my input will help parents out there in the Cloth Diapering World.


Till next time...


Contributed by: Pollyanna
Pollyanna is happily married to a US Navy Sailor, a stay at home mom to Adryana who is 5 yrs old, and Ashton who is 4 mths old. She started cloth diapering Ashton this year as of January 1, 2012 and she is so happy she did. She has only been cloth diapering for coming on 3 months now so if you're new to cloth diapering too feel free to leave a coment here and ask her a questions or visit her blog at Sew Fatty.

What is the hardest thing about cloth diapering?

When asked what the hardest thing about Cloth Diapers or Cloth Diapering in general is, my first thought is...probably taking the plunge to commit to and use cloth diapers in the first place! It was scary at first because I started my little one in disposables for the first few weeks. I had bought all of these cloth diapers, and knew I wanted to use them, but there was a voice in the back of my head that just kept saying "I am not sure I can follow through with this."

Needless to say, my husband and a few other people had bets going against "how long I would last" use the cloth diapers! Being the stubborn, motivated gal I am, I was fueled to use the cloth diapers for at least the time they bet against me! Little did I know that me trying to prove everyone wrong turned into a way of life! Now, I could never live without my cloth diapers! The thought of going out and searching to find sales and use coupons for disposables stresses me out! I am so glad I got over my nerves and second-thoughts and took the plunge into cloth diapering!

For me, it wasn't the poop, extra loads of laundry, or even the extra work (which really isn't a lot), sometimes the hardest thing is just getting past your initial fears and worries of the unknown!

 

Contributed by : Julie

 

Julie is mother to her handsome stud who is nearly 6 months old. He was her motivation to start Cloth Diapering! Not wanting to expose his little bum to all those chemicals in disposables and not returning to work full time, She was looking for a safe and inexpensive alternative. Cloth Diapering was her answer!

Starting out with cloth diapers...

When I thought of cloth diapers, I thought of what our parents or grandparents wore. It wasn't until I started seeing other moms on Facebook with cloth that I realized how modern it can be now!

 

I first started wondering about cloth diapers because our middle daughter had severe eczema, but only around her diaper, mainly the tush. No creams helped for months until I begged her doctor for a prescription that can only be used for two weeks at a time. It helped until I had to stop using it, then we were back to where we started. She would take of her disposable diaper and dig at her eczema until she bled and I KNEW something, ANYTHING had to change, so I started my journey of researching different companies and asking other moms who they liked best. I started talking to someone more and more about it and she introduced me to blog giveaways.

 

My husband didn't like the idea of cloth diapers and he thought I would want to give up because of the poo, so I started entering diaper giveaways like crazy hoping to win so I could show him how serious I was. Having two children in disposable diapers and spending $60 a month just wasn't doing it for me anymore!

 

I started entering giveaways in December 2010 and shortly after I entered some, I won! I was shocked but so excited to finally hold a cloth diaper in my hands to see what they were all about. I was impressed and it instantly made me on the hunt for more! After a couple months I had won EIGHT DIAPERS, A WET BAG, 45 CLOTH WIPES AND 45/90 BAG OF ROCKIN' GREEN! One of those diapers was indeed a Smarti Pants! I was thrilled because it gave me a starting point to test everything before we actually bought any products.

 

When I first brought up cloth diapers we had two needing them full time. Our oldest started potty training in January 2011 so that left us with our second daughter. She woke up the morning of March 22, 2011, I put a newly washed diaper on her and away we went! I'll admit, I had no idea what I was doing and with one person as my only real support system (no one I know uses cloth) I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. We had multiple leaks our first day because I never realized how much she drinks! After many failed attempts and figuring out which snaps work best for her, we finally started to get the hang of it and guess what... within DAYS her eczema was gone and has never came back!

 

Fast forward just shy of one year later and we have a one month old baby girl that soon will be able to fit in cloth diapers and I'm so excited! Our middle daughter was almost two when we discovered cloth and she is now trying to potty train so I'm anxious and curious what it will be like to cloth diaper from a baby from such a young age. We also are going to save so much money which makes me extra excited! I just wish I knew about cloth diapers while I was pregnant with our first daughter. She's now 4 and to think about all the money that we wasted on disposable diapers makes me sad. Cloth is so beneficial and I never would've figured I'd find something so amazing after talking to other parents via social media sites!

 

I know that switching to cloth diapers was the best decision for our family, not only to save money, but for the best health of my child and I'm happy to tell other's about it every chance I get because society thinks of cloth as a certain way when in fact it's amazing!

 

Contributed by : Michelle

 

Michelle is in her mid twenties. She has been with her husband for a total of eight years. They have three little girls and started cloth diapering in 2011 and she loves every minute of it!

My Cloth Diapering Journey

Today I am going to write a little bit about my journey through cloth diapering. Like I said, I started because of my son having an allergy to the disposable diapers. Soon after I found that, I went online and just purchased the first cloth diapers I found, Bum Genius. I purchased 12 of them and just ran with it. I really didn’t want to cloth diaper at all. I was a first time mom with a limited budget. Not only that, we didn’t even have a washer and drier…but I sucked it up for my kid.

 

As soon as the diapers came in the mail, I was surprised! They were SUPER cute! I packed up my son and all the new diapers and went up to my husband’s nanny’s house to wash them. As soon as they were all prepped, I put them on. I will admit, I thought they looked amazing on him, but I was still super confused. I never did my research, I just bought. I didn’t even understand the one sized feature. I mean, if you saw that first diaper that I put on, you would have laughed your butt off at me. The insert was just laying on the inside instead of being in the pocket, the middle was snapped down to small, one side to medium, and the other was just left unsnapped. I had NO clue.

 

I decide to get on the computer and start researching at that point. About 10 minutes later I had an AHA! Moment. Cloth diapering was NOT hard at all. It was just trying to figure it all out. After I saw how the one size diaper feature worked and the insert went INSIDE the diaper, I was good to go. Until….it happened….the first poop. Ohhh goodness!!!! I half flipped out!!! Thank goodness I was still at my hubby’s nanny’s house because I didn’t know what to do with the poop! She showed me how to just turn the diaper upside-down and the poop comes off. She then placed the diaper in the shower and turned on the shower on cold (she said if you do hot right away, that is what sets in the stains). And the diaper was then poop free.

 

Well, all this was great…and it lasted for about 3-4 months going this way. Then, I decided…this is gross…I do NOT want poop being rinsed out in my shower!!! So we got a diaper sprayer…and now cue addiction. My stash started growing like CRAZY after we got the diaper sprayer. I was no longer scared of the diapers, I wanted one of EVERYTHING. My world started being centered around how I could bring this to everyone. I started up my blog, Nicki’s Cloth Diaper Reviews (I changed the name recently to Nicki, The Eval Gal). I also started up being a cloth diaper advocate in my area. Heck, we MOVED because of cloth diapers so I could have a washer and drier lol.

 

I am happy to report that now, my blog is still going strong, we now have (gulp) 73 diapers, I am starting up a cloth diapering class in my area, AND I am hosting The Great Cloth Diaper Change in my area (of course with the wonderful help from my friend Katy). Oh, and I now sew my own diapers on top of it to feed my addiction when there is a lack of funds haha.

 

That is my journey (obviously in short mode). As you can see, I am just a mom, who went to the drs with her son one day to have her world completely changed for the better from that one appointment!

 

Contributed by : Nicole

 

Nicole is mother of two beautiful children. Her children are 2 ½ years old and 4 months old. She started cloth diapering when her oldest was 8 months old due to an allergy and she is so happy with cloth diapers that she will never go back to disposables.

 

Smart Fit One-size Diaper Cover

What makes the Smart Fit Diaper cover different from other one-size covers on the market? We are so glad so many of you are asking this question! The Smart Fit Cover is the only diaper cover in the world that adjusts to go from extra small to extra large and also expands from narrow to wide avoiding the all too common problem other covers present of having a very wide crotch when using the cover on a tiny baby. To see this demonstrated click here to check out our video tutorial!

Cloth Diaper Safe Detergents

One of the most popular questions we get here at Smartipants is "What kind of detergent should I use?"
The answer depends on several factors such as your water type, whether your baby has any allergies or sensitivities and your own preferences.
We prefer clean rinsing detergents, the use of hot water and hanging to dry whenever possible to prolong the life of the diapers and get them as clean as possible.
There are many detergents that are not safe for cloth and you can find that list here https://www.smartipants.com/faq#6There are others that we can recommend as safe to use with cloth diapers and you can see those here http://www.youtube.com/thesmartipants#p/a/u/1/IDb3CSsdZoM
Whichever you choose remember that it is important to choose the brand that works best for you and to avoid whiteners, brighteners, and softeners. Also avoid natural soaps as they will leave a film on your diapers.